Bush's Toughest Task as a 'Uniter' ; despite Diversity in the Cabinet, Many Blacks Say True Test of Inclusiveness Will Come on Issues

Article excerpt

For a president-elect pledged to be a uniter, not a divider, the
toughest challenge ahead may be mending fences with the African-
American community.

The early, high-level appointments of Gen. Colin Powell as
secretary of State and Condoleezza Rice as national security
adviser helped. So did meetings in Austin yesterday with black
ministers and others to discuss how the new administration can
expand "faith-based" social services to the poor.

But winning back the GOP's most alienated constituency will be a
hard sell for the new president - particularly coming after a
Democratic administration that made racial reconciliation a top
priority. Indeed, black civil rights leaders insist it will take
more than appointments, meetings, or symbols to overcome decades of
suspicion - even hostility - many blacks harbor toward Republicans.
It will hinge more on the direction and tone the Bush
administration takes on issues ranging from affirmative action to
school vouchers.

"You can't just look at who is being named, you have to look also
at the priorities and policy priorities that these nominees
represent," says Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich, director of the Black
Leadership Forum, which represents civil rights and social-service
organizations.

Some 93 percent of black voters voted against George W. Bush in
November, despite an unusually strong effort by a GOP candidate to
reach out to minorities. Mr. Bush spoke to the NAACP convention this
year, a venue Republicans generally avoid.

But in the end, mainstream black groups focused on turning out
the vote for Al Gore, registering more than 4 million new voters in
29 states. Moreover, the black vote hit historic highs in some
states, including Texas, New York, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi,
and especially Florida.

"In this election, there were several states where black voting
was the highest it's ever been," says David Bositis, senior analyst
at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in
Washington.

It's that effort that makes Florida's undercounts especially
painful for African-Americans. Civil rights groups are still
documenting widespread allegations of disenfranchisement of voters,
especially in black neighborhoods. (In Jacksonville, 1 in 3 ballots
cast in black precincts were rejected by voting machines, about
four times the number in white precincts.) Some 81 percent of
blacks said that the outcome of the presidential election was
unfair, compared with 40 percent of whites, according to a USA
Today/CNN/Gallup poll this week.

As news organizations pursue their own hand recounts of those
ballots, such feelings could intensify. …